Minutes apart, cars crash into Ogden buildings

OGDEN — Apparently, it was “Drive Your Car into a Building” day in Ogden.

Serious injuries were avoided in two separate car accidents involving buildings in downtown Ogden on Friday. The crashes occurred within minutes of each other and were separated by just one city street.

The first incident took place at approximately 10:30 a.m. at 131 25th St. when a man driving a silver Mercedes Benz sedan drove over the curb and into the Hardison Peek Photography storefront. The man, who did not want to be identified, told the Standard-Examiner he was parked just in front of the storefront and accidentally pressed the gas instead of the brake.

The vehicle rammed into the building fast enough for his air bag to deploy and caused significant damage to the Hardison building. The building was closed at the time of the accident, so no one was inside when it happened. The driver seemed disoriented and had a large tear in his pants, but wasn’t seriously injured.

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Just minutes after the accident on 25th Street, an SUV came within inches of plowing into a federal government building at the corner of 24th Street and Lincoln Avenue. The accident was caused after a man in a silver sedan made an illegal left hand turn from eastbound 24th Street onto Lincoln Avenue. The driver of the SUV, James Booth, was headed west on 24th Street and managed to avoid a light pole and a large cement barrier before stopping his car just inches from the federal building.

Booth said neither he nor any of the occupants in his vehicle were injured.

"I’m just glad nobody was hurt,“ he said. ”I’m glad there wasn’t anybody out here on the sidewalk waiting to cross the street or something.“

Booth said members of the Ogden Fire Department were near the scene and happened to witness the accident as it happened.

"They came over and were going to start administering aid immediately, but thankfully nobody needed it,” he said.

Booth said he was shaken up by the incident, but managed to keep a sense of humor about it, making light of the damage his car caused to a nearby flower bed.

"We really lucked out,“ he said. ”But there were a couple dozen innocent begonias slaughtered in the accident.“

The man who drove the sedan declined to be interviewed by the Standard-Examiner.

Police officers at the accident scenes declined comment.

Contact reporter Mitch Shaw at 801-625-4233 or mishaw@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @mitchshaw23.